So Much Potential, To Bad It's The Only Release - 95%

Black Metal was once my largest forte. I lived and breathed black metal as much as I listened to it. However, time changes and people move on. Well, most of us anyways. However, recently I acquired a media device that can hold my massive storage of music that I have collected, and so I've been burning all my CDs and tapes, and putting all my mp3's into my iTunes. Well low and behold I got a hold of a lot of my old National Socialist Black Metal I used to listen to, and so I started giving the albums a play through, and realized "why haven't I been listening to black metal for the past year?". Blutrache, strangely enough, was one of the first artists that I ended up playing through, and it was the absolutely first artist I went through their release in entirety. So I thought I'd give a review a shot.

The demo itself is absolute magnificent for being a demo. The production is just raw enough for it be harsh raw black metal, but it's not harsh enough to make it unenjoyable by destroying the atmosphere. That was one of the things that truly made this demo great for me.

Secondly, the guitars really caught my attention. Simpilistic, yes. But absolutely fitting for the mood? Definitly. Filled with excessive tremolo picking, the song structures themselves are nothing that could be considered "great musicianmaship". But since when does being a musician have anything to do with black metal.... well for a long time. But none-the-less, the point is, through the vast simplicity and melodic destructive noise, in combination with the perfect application of reverb and distortion you get something pleasurable to the ears. The sounds themselves convey the march of war and genocide in it's perfect view.

The adding of keyboards, was also nice. Though they are sparse they make for a great accompaniment for the demo. They also made a truly atmospheric and almost chilling intro and outro. It's a shame Blutrache didn't continue to produce music after this demo.

Another aspect of the demo that really got to me was the vocals. Though standard vocals in the black metal scene, they don't lack the power, intensity, or tone of many of the musicians of the vocal style. They manage to shriek and penetrate the ears in a way that almost calms and soothes them, once again adding to the atmosphere of the demo. The production didn't interfere either which is another plus.

Overall, a great demo and horrible way to end a band with so much potential. If only there was a full release. The only problem I can say is to short for my tastes, but it's a demo so what can you say?